It was a day that was uncharacteristically sunny for Winter in Canberra, and likewise a beautiful day in Sydney, when Kai Tan, one half of Jackie Onassis was sitting on the phone chatting to me about the Hip Hop collective One Day.
First things first, tell me about how One Day came about and what makes it special?
I’m not really sure exactly what makes it special, but we’re all from the same high school and the same area. We were all into hip hop, long before we had dreams of playing shows or doing records, or doing a One Day record. We’d just sit around and rap and talk shit and have a good time, so the thing about One Day is that it’s more like a natural progression from what we were doing socially, into music, rather than some big scheme to be this crazy musical clique.
The term ‘supergroup’ has been thrown around to describe One Day. Does it put more pressure and expectations on you as a group?
Honestly, I never really thought about that. I don’t think so, I mean – even before I was in One Day I was hoping for a One Day record. A One Day record was going to happen sooner or later and it’s just cool we get to be part of it. I feel like the One Day crew is just like a band in itself – the style on this record isn’t just that it’s one band’s style and everyone else is getting on that, it’s like this proper mish-mash thing that’s happened
Yeah, I’ve heard it being described as more of a band experience than just individuals working together. What was the writing and recording process like?
Well for the majority of the record we actually used it as an opportunity to get out of Sydney. For the first half of the record we rented a villa up in Byron, and all seven of us went up there for about a week and we converted the place into a little studio. So the producers would be in one room making a beat, the rest of us would be in the main room, in the studio recording, or writing our verses somewhere.
We were really able to vibe off each other’s stuff, and everyone’s verses have a little element of someone else in it. We actually did the same thing for the second half – we rented a place in La Perouse and pretty much finished the record there. It’s been a very collaborative process.
*Raph, the other half of Jackie Onassis arrives in the room.
It’s been an interesting way to release your album Mainline, with an RDIO exclusive stream creating a lot of hype.
R – Yeah, well that’s pretty much the idea. We just want to give people a bit of a listen. The people who are really dedicated to One Day and have been fans of Horrorshow and Spit Syndicate and us for a lesser amount of time, we’re really just catering to those guys.
Tell us about the One Day Sundays parties you host at The Vic in Sydney.
R – We just started throwing these events in the carpark at a local pub in our area and since then it’s kind of grown and grown. It really just started as a place for us to play music we like and have a dance on a Sunday, and it’s got really massive and just keeps growing. Every month is just bigger than the last one. It’s a lot of fun.
I think there’s definitely a market for that, the sort of chill-but-party vibe on a Sunday afternoon.
R – Well, Adit from Horrorshow said 2014 is the year of the day party, and that’s turning out to be prophetic.
Day partying is the best – there are definitely some people here who would be up for a party.
R – Oh yeah? Looking forward to finding out.
Yeah, 26th September at ANU Bar. That’ll be pretty exciting.
K – That’ll be hectic.
